Shloka 2.23.11
लक्ष्मणक्रोधः—दैवपुरुषकारविवादः (Lakshmana’s Wrath and the Debate on Destiny vs Human Effort)
येनेय मागता द्वैधं तव बुद्धिर्महामते।स हि धर्मो मम द्वेष्यः प्रसङ्गाद्यस्य मुह्यसि।।।।
yeneyaṃ āgatā dvaidhaṃ tava buddhir mahāmate | sa hi dharmo mama dveṣyaḥ prasaṅgād yasya muhyasi ||
O great-minded one, that very ‘dharma’ by which your judgment has been driven into this dilemma—under whose pressure you are bewildered—such a dharma is hateful to me.
O noble minded one! I hate this righteousness which has deluded your intellect and created this dilemma about this issue.
Not every claim of ‘dharma’ is ethically sound; Lakṣmaṇa challenges a rigid interpretation of duty that produces confusion and enables injustice.
Seeing Rāma inclined to accept a painful command, Lakṣmaṇa denounces the kind of duty that traps Rāma in hesitation.
Moral courage—Lakṣmaṇa dares to question a prevailing notion of dharma when it seems to protect wrongdoing.